


I Know Your Demons

by Asorae



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 13:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16198325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asorae/pseuds/Asorae
Summary: When an encounter forces Nero to confront some childhood hauntings, he finds comfort in a friend.





	I Know Your Demons

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone, I’m giving it a go.  
> sweet-sssurrender.tumblr.com
> 
> I listened to Dont Shut Me Up by iiol whilst writing this, it helped set the overall tone so maybe give it a listen.

_ Your tone is bruised, sitting ugly and now _

_ I know your demons as well as your touch _

_ Take a hit and fight for your love _

_ They say love is blind when we kick and punch _

_ Pills won't heal the pain 'cause the damage is done _

_ Naked on the floor till we self destruct _

  
  


You jolt awake, heart skipping a beat, confused. The room is slightly chilled, silent and still. Whatever it was that woke you, you're not sure. Heavy darkness around you tells you that it’s late, maybe early morning but you can’t tell. You check your phone for the time, just after before midnight. No missed calls, but a few messages.

 

_ 8:32PM [Nico] Today wasn’t great. I’ll let him fill you in on the details  _

 

_ 8:35PM [Nico] Gimme a call if you guys need me or something comes up, night x _

 

As your brain wakes up you realise you’re at home in your bedroom. Dumped on the floor is your coat and bag so you must have fallen asleep straight after work. Flicking your phone open you begin to reply to Nico. 

 

Suddenly a thundering, drilling sound blares from a distance, on and off like a siren. Listening out for any other sounds, you realise it's coming from downstairs from the garage. Why the hell Nero and Nico are doing car repairs  _ now  _ is beyond you, normally at this time you guys are all asleep or sat in the kitchen tucking into a takeout meal, catching each other up on the day’s events or watching old reruns on television. Especially on a weekend.

 

Grabbing your hoodie, well,  _ Nero’s  _ hoodie, you slip off the bed and peer out into the hallway. Scurrying across the hallway, pressing gently on Nico’s bedroom door. As your eyes adjust to the dark, it’s obvious she’s not in here. Often on weekends she’ll go to the bars to meet some friends and unwind, but Nero is weary of strangers and always uses you as an excuse to stay home. She must have gone without him. You head for the garage, annoyed that they didn’t wake you. There’s also a harsh smell of smoke, meaning Nico probably had a quick cigarette as she got ready and didn’t open a window, leaving you even more annoyed.

 

“Nero! Are you in there?” you call out into the garage hallway, the buzzing of a drill comes as a reply. “Nero. It’s late. What are you doing?”

 

The sound of the drill doesn’t stop, you can see his shoulders hunched over the bonnet of the van. The slight blood stains on the floor reminds you of what once took place here but you push the thought from your mind. If it doesn’t bother Nero then it shouldn’t bother you, but it still makes you feel weird being in here sometimes. His coat is dumped on a stool, his lone glove thrown onto the floor nearby. The sleeves of his red tattered sweater are rolled up to the elbows. He mustn't have heard you. You walk around to where he’s working, stepping over tools and wires draping the floor. It’s cold with the garage door ajar, but there is a bead of sweat on the back of his neck. You can’t help but take a moment to admire the way his muscles tense as he leans across the van, but now isn’t the time. You call his name again, this time softly, but he says nothing.

 

You take a step closer. “Is everything okay? I heard you had a bad day, Nico said-”

 

“What does Nico know about anything?” he snaps. Stunned slightly, you stare at him. Nero always had a habit of being a little bit cutting with his words. He was sharp-tongued, but not without reason. Especially to you. You place hand on his shoulder, toying with the collar on his shirt for a minute. His silver white hair looks ice blue in the fluorescent light peering in from the hallway, his eyes dark but with a shimmer across them. He doesn’t shrug you off but he pays you no mind, uninterested in your caress. You can’t help but notice how blue his eyes are, like there’s tiny shards of ice moving behind them, catching the light that slipped in from the garage door. You let your hand fall back. He sighs hard.

 

“They found some demons of the outside of the city. Nothing serious. Some weird cultists brought them about. But there was this...kid.” he says. “A baby, couple hours old or something.” 

 

“A kid? Was he..?”

 

“Dead? Nah, he was  _ fine _ .” he mutters. Nero’s eyes don’t lift from the van and he doesn’t stop for a second to look up. You wait for him to go on but he says nothing, the sound of metal on metal filling the silence. He picks up a wrench and begins loosening a piece of scrap from the van’s bonnet. Suddenly it snaps at the handle and he swears loudly, making you jump, turning quickly he launches it at the garage where it hits the door with a deafening sound. He paces around the garage for a second, unable to stand still for a moment, running his hand over his face and the back of his neck.

 

“Why the hell would someone just leave a kid?! In the middle of nowhere with a bunch of demons? Why didn’t his mother like, take it with them instead of just  _ leaving  _ him with no one? Why didn’t she-” he tilts his head back to force the tears back but he knows it’s too late. Nero’s always been a crier, especially when he’s angry, you learnt this pretty quickly. That doesn’t make it any easier to calm him down though.

 

“Why did she leave him?” he chokes, his voice a whisper. It takes you only a second to realise why he’s  _ really  _ upset, the question of his parents must take up a lot of his thoughts. You move towards him, arms outstretched, and he closes the distance in a few strides. Tip toed, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as he buries his face into your hoodie. He’s huge compared to your slight frame, but the way he melts into you makes him feel smaller as you run your fingers along his neck to calm him. Nero’s anger is usually unruly and wild, so it's usually better to let him cool off before trying to get an answer from him. But he needs comfort. He needs to cry, to be held.  _ He needs answers that he won't get,  _ you think to yourself, but there’s nothing you can do as of right now.

His tears feel hot against your skin as they melt into the fabric of your sleeve, his sobs breaking the silence. You push him back gently and hold his face in your hands, swiping a tear away with your thumb as his hiccups slightly. Nero looks past you slightly, he's embarrassed but it’s not the first time you’ve seen him like this. He pushes the palms of his hands into his eyes to wipe away the last of his tears, and another hiccups jumps from his chest. “I don’t know why I get like this sometimes. It’s just-”

 

“I know, Nero.”

 

He laughs slightly, “I just get mad, it’s probably-”

 

“Nero. I get it, it's okay,  _ really _ .” You don’t let him finish, he doesn’t need to explain himself to you. 

He looks down at you, towering at least a foot over you. You stare at each other for a second (but it feels like a minute, you think) and for moment you think he might kiss you, or maybe that you might kiss him. It wouldn’t have been the first time, you’d shared a few drunk kisses before, enough to count on both hands, but you both acted like it was nothing. A silly thing between friends, you tell yourself. But all at once his face is close to yours again and his mouth is pressed up against yours, a hand cradling your cheek, the other resting on the dip between your back.

 

It takes a moment but you shift into the kiss, your arms coming up you wrap around him again, his chest is warm and firm against yours, and suddenly the garage doesn’t feel so cold. Your breathing is steady, but escalates as he runs wisps of your hair through his fingers and pulls you into him, a little bit urgent, needy, and a small moan works its way out from you, making you both break off the kiss.

 

“I shouldn’t have done that.” He mutters, his eyes still half shut, one hand still resting on your face and one probably a little bit too close to your ass. 

 

“Yeah. I mean, no.” You’re out of breath, confused and a little winded from the kiss. You’re not really sure what you’re trying to say, all you can think about is how much you wish you were still kissing him. But you slip out of his grasp and his hand lingers for a second before it drops to his side. It shouldn’t have happened, you know that. You’re supposed to be his roommate, who happens to live with him and eat with him and spend time with him and also apparently kiss him. 

 

You take a step back and the garage is once again cold, a tiny shiver works its way along your shoulders. Nero picks up the broken pieces of wrench, rubbing his hands along his face and sniffling a little. He sniffs again, then turns to you.

 

“Can you smell smoke?”

 

Immediately after he speaks there’s a chatter from upstairs, Nico returning from where ever the night had taken her. Music starts to blast from the kitchen, as a handful of people filter in from the front door, cigarettes and beer cans in hand. 

 

“We should head up.” He sighs, grabbing his coat. 

You nod, pushing the hair from your face, the hot sensation from the kiss still lingering a little. As you both head towards the door he swings the coat around onto you and his arm sit across your shoulders. You turn to him as you walk through the doorway, and he plants a kiss on the edge of your forehead. “Thank you.” 

 

“For what?” you have an idea for what he’s thanking you for, but you push the subject anyway. Nero rolls his eyes and squeezes your shoulder, ignoring your question. As you head up the stairs together into the hustle and bustle of people, Nero slips his arm around your waist as Nico hands him an already open beer. She raises an eyebrow at him and her eyes flick to your waist, but says nothing as she reaches into the cupboard for a glass and starts pour herself something clear and dangerous looking. She gives you a nod and a slight smile, and you can’t help but wonder if she knows. 

 

As the night goes on and people nurse their drinks and play cards on the table, you find yourself stood by the open window, tapping the cherry of your cigarette off, the room brimming with people. As you breathe the last of the smoke out into the crisp air, a figure appears next to you, his bicep warm next yours. Nero plucks the cigarette from your dainty fingers and flicks it into the darkness.

 

“Bad habit.” he smirks.

 

“So is littering,” you quip back.

 

You stand there for a moment, sharing a slither of peace in a room full of chaos. He nudges your arm with his and you elbow him back gently, goading him into wrapping his arm all the way around your shoulders. You struggle for a moment as he holds you in place, waiting for you to give in. Eventually you relax into him, and the grip around you goes from being playful to soft. You pretend to ignore him for a second, fully aware that Nico’s eyes are probably glued to you both and you’ll likely be getting an earful later. But you can feel Nero’s eyes looking down at you, and then before you know it your facing him again, fingers in his hair, pushing your lips onto his, pressing up against him. He smiles into the kiss and pulls you into him roughly, maybe a little hard, unaware of his infernal strength. Your embrace goes unnoticed for a moment, and it’s not until Nero slips a tongue past your lips that a handful of people start to whistle. Pulling away quickly before it gets  _ too _ heated, he presses a quick kiss to your forehead and laughs.

 

You smile and look out into the darkness, the edge of the city now blanketed in a deep blue. Nero feels warm next to you in the crisp air, like a light in the dark, a safe beacon in the distance. Your relationship isn’t perfect,  _ he  _ isn’t perfect by any means, but it is what it it, you think, and sometimes you have to know your demons as well as you know each others touch.

 


End file.
